Southeast Europe bets on gas

Greece and Bulgaria plan dashes for gas to fuel cleaner energy futures

Gas is set to play a larger role in the energy mixes of southeast European neighbours Greece and Bulgaria as both countries invest in infrastructure to diversify their supply routes. The former is traditionally very dependent on coal for power generation—fuelling 34pc of output in 2018. But Greece’s 10-year national energy and climate plan (NECP) submitted to the European Commission by the country’s centre-right, pro-business Mitsotakis administration, which assumed power in July 2019, sees gas playing a bigger role in backing up the country’s renewables expansion. A target of c.4GW of coal-fired power capacity coming offline by 2023 would represent all of the country’s lignite plants curren